


Light of the Projector

by RobotdragonX



Category: Code Geass
Genre: F/M, Movie Night, Reader-Insert, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 10:32:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15459408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobotdragonX/pseuds/RobotdragonX
Summary: In the wake of a recent tragedy, Shirley invites you to a private movie-night.





	Light of the Projector

You're waiting. Sitting alone in the dark halls of Ashford Academy's Student Council hall as the rain outside patters on. Moist air trickles through a few of the screen windows they'd installed a couple weeks ago, hitting you with the rain's fragrance as the storm continued throughout the late afternoon.  
It wasn't enough to distract from what had happened today.  
You take a sip of water, wondering how tonight would play out, given the circumstances. She'd asked out of nowhere, and you barely had time to give a proper answer. Even now, minutes from this little meetup, you're hesitant to even wanting to do this in the first place. Not that it took a genius to tell why she'd ask at a time like this.  
A month ago, it'd been just a cough. That's how a lot of these things start.  
Your mother, a loving woman that had taken care of you and watched over you in all of your time on earth, had been helping you make your bed, what with it's abnormal mattress size. She'd always meant to buy you a new one, having complained a thousand times about how much space it took up in your room.  
It was in the middle of her embarrassing you by reminiscing about the time you pooped your diapers in a crib did she clear her throat. Then she coughed. And then she coughed once again.  
You both agreed to see the doctor, thinking she'd just had some kind of flu or maybe your house had developed mold. Then you'd have to move away from your friends and neighborhood, and be forced to start all over from scratch.  
By god, you now wished that's what it was.   
Your mother, a healthy woman all of her years, had a dormant lung disease of which there is no known cure. Despite the advances in Britannian medical science, there hadn't been a fully developed method to cope with it.  
It was hard. Trying to spend the last few weeks of her life with you. Your father came back home immediately, and you all tried to enjoy the walks in the park, the visits to your favorite places from your infant years.  
But every time you all went out, she'd have at least three or four coughing fits. Some even sprinkled with a few bloody droplets.  
She died in her sleep. Rather peacefully. You'd made her a nice snack before she went to bed that night. You had at least that to comfort you whenever walking past her room.   
Now your house is a whole lot emptier without her. There's no longer the sound of the daily tasks or hobbies she'd use to fill her day with, nor the sound of the television.   
Your dad went back to work after the funeral. You'd both had a tear-filled talk about it, before he decided to go back to his research. During your talk, he'd said that it would be better for you to cope in your own way. You didn't blame him for leaving, as being in that house all by yourself was plenty reason not to stick around.  
Naturally, you returned to Ashford's dorms as quickly as possible, back to the safety net that was the Student Council. You'd figured that seeing everyone's smiling faces would help you forget. That was when she approached you with an offer that sounded a little too good to be true.  
A knock on the door. Lelouch and Nunnally are having a lock-in tonight at the school, and have been given a private room. Lelouch seemed like a pretty cool guy, but the sister-complex jokes people liked to spread around put brought your thoughts to some weird places. Long ago, you'd decided to leave it be, not even bothering to draw your own conclusions.   
“H-hello! Y/N! Are you there!?”

You run across the council house ballroom, hearing another roar of thunder rumble outside.  
“I'll be right there!”  
Well, there's no turning back now. She knows you're here.  
“Okay! Please hurry!”  
You hasten your steps, and once the door opens, the girl's shrill voice reverberates across the hall.  
“WATCH OUT!”  
Too late. A heavy box that must've weighed at least fifty tumbled hits your stomach and causes you to fall on your rump.  
Looking up, her silhouette leans down without hesitation.  
“Are you okay Y/N?”

lifting the box, you place it down to the floor right of you and groan. “I think I'll live. .For a little while longer.”  
She sighs. “I'm sorry...Really! I just thought I was strong enough to make it here!”   
“Maybe I should've called Suzaku for this. Or even Rivalz.”   
Already, you're chuckling at the little jab. She pouts, kicking up the droplets on rain hanging off of her uniform and hair. “You're mean!” In the dim light, you see her making a frown that's a bit too cute for you to take that seriously.  
“Calm down....” Already, her presence has brought light to the situation. Maybe tonight wouldn't be as troublesome as you'd feared it might.  
Shirley Fenette, a classmate of yours and the girl who introduced you to the best Student Council that Britannia could ever know (or at least, that's what Milly liked boast from time to time). This was her idea, not yours, but you weren't complaining. Any chance to be around her would happily be taken, much to the notice of Milly. She always liked to joke about some kind of “Love triangle” between the two of you and Lelouch.  
Whatever that means.   
You both gather the belongings in the box, Shirley filled with contagious enthusiasm. “Why's everything so dark?...Here, I've got the lights!”  
Your eyes take a minute to adjust to the burst of light assaulting your corneas.  
But all of that energy won't teach you how to work this damn thing sitting in front of you.  
“So......How do you work this thing?” Her orange hair clung to her shoulders, wet from marching all the way out here.  
“Look, you just plug the wire in....Here, just let me..”  
With speed and a little grace, she's able to hook up the archaic device, planting it on the table and beaming with pride. It's amazing really...Having bounced back from....what happened not so long ago. It made you wonder what was going on in her head that gave her the strength to press on.  
You stare at this...”Projector,” with it's protruding lens and it's strange, circular spools.   
“So is this thing from the same planet you're from?”  
She hits you in the shoulder and scolds you. You laugh, and think about how you're gonna say that to your mom when you come home.....  
You freeze, and the light in your face dies quickly.   
“...Hey....Are you okay?”  
“Huh?”  
She's gazing at you, concerned for her friend. “Listen, we don't have to do this tonight...Or at all! I'll just ask Rivalz if he can make a trip-”  
“No! Really! It's fine!....I love having you here.”  
Her gaze widens for a moment while she exhales . “Oh!...Well, thank you.”  
Your face reddens, as you assure her that it's okay. She only smiles and waves it off as she goes to put in the first film.  
“Did you bring some popcorn?”  
You nod. “No butter though...”  
“Seriously?”  
“Hey, you're the one who agreed to this.”  
“Beggars can't be choosers I guess...” Shirley sighed, sliding in the first film.   
The lights go off again, and the movie starts.  
The opening credits of the classic “Frankenstein” movie start playing. Already, the old black-and-white look of it makes it hard to make out even the smallest thing.  
“I just love these old movies! My mom collects these things when she's got time off!”  
“Are they all as hard to make out as this?”  
“These are classics, Y/N! This is where the best movies get their ideas!”  
Her eyes are bright with enthusiasm, while the first scene fades in....And it's not the most favored one.  
A group of people on hill. Dressed in black as the preacher gave a eulogy to the person in the coffin. All at once, you feel an aching in your chest. It was only this morning that you'd been at a scene like this. Hell, that damn rebel Zero and his Black Knights were the reason you'd attended so many funerals like this one.  
You were just....so tired damn tired of seeing this. The tears practically shed themselves.  
Shirley jumps to the projector, and removes the reel, fumbling it in her hands as she frees it from the spool.  
“Oh god....I'm...I'm so sorry...I didn't mean....I forgot about that scene!”  
“No..It's fine-”  
“No it's not!”  
She stands there, shaking as the film rattles between her fingers.  
“.......My father....He was a wonderful man....Just like your mom...And when he died, I just didn't know how we were going to live without him...It was a stupid accident...From that battle.”  
This girl had come out here through the rain just to cheer you up, and you're making her cry. For god's sake, do something about it!  
You jump up, and give her a hug. Soft and warm, while her still-wet hair chills your right hand on her back.  
“Look....Let's just forget about all that. That's what we're here for, right?”  
She sniffs..”Yeah, you're right.” She wipes away the droplets from the corners of her eyes.  
Maybe a change in mood is all that's needed. “Listen...Let's pick out a movie you like, alright? Your favorite,”  
“Oh!...Are you sure?”  
“It can by any one you want....Just as long as it's not about...”  
She nods, energetic once again as she wipes away her tears. She leans down into the box, giving you a decent glance at the rain water still dripping off the back of her skir-  
Why the hell are you looking there? What's wrong with you!?   
Face red upon this realization, you turn away from her, staring into the shadows of the council room until she emerges with an old, stained film reel.  
“Here!” She beams, with pride that not even a thousand Knightmare's blazing guns could blow away. “The Starlight in Pendragon!”  
Shirley sighs the name, her breath speaking of nights huddle in front of the screen in reverence to this visual medium in her slender fingers.  
To you, it just looks like an old, dirty movie. But, to each their own...  
“Well..If that's what you-”  
“I'm right on it!”  
Her nimble hands are able to slide it in and fire up the projector once again before you can even finish your thoughts. Seriously, who else but Suzaku can move like that?  
She gleefully pats on your seat, urging you to behold this masterpiece of cinema excellence.  
The credits open with bright, white letters overlaying overhead footage of the Britannian royal capital. Long before it'd become a fortified tribute to the empire's power. Here, the city was seen as a beautiful series of both 50s architecture and the castles of middle age.  
“Don't you just love it....The perfect place for a date, y'know?'  
You shrugged, “As long as I don't get arrested for sneezing on one of the nobles.”  
The movie continues, cutting to a long-haired young woman, moping as she sits in the middle of a cafe under a starlit night. You watch her, sipping from her mug with little interest in the dancing people around her, silhouettes of dancing people cast over her as she looks up in the sky.  
A girl hoping to last long enough for better times to come. The distant gaze in her eyes and the way she avoided even looking at some of the other people in the cafe reminds you of yourself. And with that, it brings you back to the fact that it's gonna be a while before things get better again.  
Good lord, was everything going to remind you of what happened?  
Suddenly, a young man comes into the scene.   
“I love this part..” Shirley smiles.  
“Hey!” The young man on the screen taps the girl on the shoulder. “Do you know where the nearest mailbox is? I'm new to Pendragon, and I'm not very good at reading the maps.”  
Shirley lets out a soundless sigh in your periphery, losing herself in the fantasy that these filmmakers crafted over half a century ago.   
The young man is able to deliver his job application, while the girl tries to walk away. He asks her whats wrong, and she laments that her family wants to marry her off to a noble, instead of letting her pursue her dream in playing the violin.  
From there, the pair spend the entire night exploring the city, listening and making music, dancing, and enjoying Pendragon's now-defunct pleasures. During another conversation, the boy reveals that he ran to Pendragon after a falling out with his family. Woefully, the girl is out too late, and must return home. When the parents see them return, they treat her with cruelty in front of the young man.  
Together, they sneak her out of the home early that morning, and run away together in the growing Britannian daylight as the words “THE END” are planted across the screen.  
Shirley is crying at the end.  
“Hey....Are you alright?”  
“....Isn't it wonderful?” She rasps. “The way they were able to connect like that?”  
You raise and eyebrow, and she continues, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Two people...Complete strangers, able to heal one another in a single night and change their lives forever.....Y/N...Do you think that's possible in real life?”  
The answer to that one, you can't really say for sure. These movies were made in a time when the cliches we groan at today weren't so antiquated, and the cathartic fantasies of film-goers were easier to cater to. Then again, people talk all the time about meeting their friends and loved ones out of the wildest of things.  
“Well...What do you think?”  
She turns to you, her now-dry, soft hair-strands made a soft-brown in the projector's light. Her eyes twinkle with a wonder and joy that brings a smile to your face.  
“Well....I....”  
She grins again, tucking a loose strand behind her hair in a coy manner. “That's okay. Most guys aren't willing to let out their feelings so easily. You're too busy being all macho, huh?'  
“That's not it at all..It's just....I dunno...”  
She's laughing now, amused by your inability to answer. “Oh come on! I'm not gonna be mad if you say no! It's just a yes or no question.”  
“Well...People meet people in the craziest ways you know..Like when I came to school that one time, and I met you when I-”  
You stop, catching yourself before finishing that sentence. Hoo boy.....But that does nothing to stop her.  
“Oh yeah! When you stopped and asked me which class you.....”  
The film finishes the final few notes of the ending song, with the studio's emblem being displayed one last time before fizzing out.  
You're staring at her, and she's staring back.  
“.....Got lost going to class...Wow, it's kinda hot in here, isn't it?”  
She jumps up, then dashes to the window before you can respond. The rain has died down a little, with the fine, cool mist after a storm flowing in.  
“Well....You want to watch something like a comedy?”  
Her eyes are avoiding yours, unable to face you after..Well....Did she think the same thing you were thinking.  
“Hold on! I've got one you might like!”  
She bends down, once again-  
You turn away from the sight. You're a gentleman.....Even if she is rather fit from all of those swim sessions..  
And as she stands up, you remember a scene from the movie. Where the girl leaned over to pick up some produce at a local market...  
Her hair was long, a bit of a light-brown coloration....And it even had a small ponytail in the back just like hers...  
“FOUND IT!”  
She lifts the film out of the box, and you jump, causing her to leap into the air by a few feet.   
“Y/N! You scared me!”  
“Well if you hadn't shouted so loud...”  
You both smirk, the serious tone in your voice lost to the mirthful look in her eyes. After a while, your poor attempts at piercing through each other's gaze is lost to the onrush of giggling that only ceases when you both pause long enough to catch your breath.  
“...Y/N?”  
“Yeah, Shirley?”  
“Don't take this the wrong way or anything but....” She's hesitant, pausing to decided whether or not she wants to follow through on her statement. “N-never mind..”  
“What? What are you gonna say?”  
“Well....” She looks around, making absolutely sure that none of the other council members are spying on you  
“You just have a cute laugh, that's all. It sounds so happy, you know?...It's just nice to see you just a teensy bit happier again.”  
She gives you a soft, distant smile, avoiding your gaze while she turns to put in the next film reel. This time, her fingers stumble over the feed spool as she works to put it in place. The whole process takes almost a minute, but she slides it in and sits beside you while one of the classic “Five-Stooges” films plays.   
That night, you laugh over the antics of Joey, Jay, Tom, Boddy-Hayes and Hammond as they stumble their way through the back alleys of Chicago trying to take down a crime boss as the city's most incompetent team of detectives.  
Towards the film's end, Shirley says something while you both stare into the screen with declining interest as the film reaches it's resolution.  
“If you ever need to talk to me about your mother, then you can always talk to me. We'll....We'll cry about it together...Okay?”  
She sniffs a little, and you know that you've had enough of that tonight. “Hey, you're being too grim, alright?”  
You lean in, a modest but close foot or two from her. “I'm just glad you're here. Any night with you is a night well-spent..”  
Her eyes lighten a bit. “We'd better be careful...Eventually Milly will start to get ideas..”  
“Then I guess we can humor her a bit, huh?”  
She laughs. “Just not too much! I don't want Lelouch to think....Never mind.”   
Ah...That.  
You sigh, and just decide to enjoy the night together. Besides, you were pretty sure Milly was onto you. The same way you were looking at Shirley now, the council president had seen many times before. Later on, you'll both put away the projector for her to pick up later and sneak in to the school, with a few still-awake students giving you suspicious looks.   
You know that word will spread to Milly, and the rest of the gang.   
And as you rest your head at an ungodly hour against a spare sleeping bag, you think of the way she looked at you when she asked you how you liked “The Starlight in Pendragon.” That way the crevices of her lips seemed to melt away all the bad in the world and pull you into that moment.  
Sadly, doubt comes to your mind. Her heart belongs to someone else, whether or not he reciprocates her feelings.   
Whether or not you can find the bravery to tell her the truth, only time will tell.  
For now, you rest your head, and cherish this night for what it is.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this after being suggested another story based on events in The Truth. A spin-off/prequel to it, actually.  
> Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
